Known for its charming communities and picturesque landscapes, a colorful patchwork quilt of farms, fields, and small towns, Stanly County possesses a rich Southern heritage, one forged by its dedication to agricultural development and small-town life. As urban sprawl rapidly encroaches on North Carolina's Piedmont region, it is vital that we remember and preserve our county's history, providing present and future generations a chance to connect to their ancestors' past, one that is truly special with the people of the Tar Heel State. This volume takes you on a visual journey into the Stanly County of yesteryear, where you will stroll through Albemarle's early downtown district, full of horses, wagons, and turn-of-the-century storefronts, where you will explore some of the county's budding rural communities, such as Oakboro, Badin, and Norwood, where you will experience the places in which the people worked, played, and lived, such as the early industrial mills, the farms, the one-room schoolhouses, and early businesses, and where you will meet some of the county's families and individuals, both prominent and everyday, such as a variety of soldiers, politicians, community leaders, farmers, merchants, and athletes.